Community gateway sign considered

Pasadena business leaders may start planning as soon as next month a gateway sign for their community on the old Brick House Bar property at Mountain and Long Hill roads.

The gateway is to include a lighted "Welcome to Pasadena" sign, a small flagpole and trees and shrubs. The Pasadena Business Association will coordinate design and construction.

Tom Redmond, association president, said that he is "waiting for county engineering to finish, to know what size property we have so we know what size gateway we can build."

County engineers are redesigning the intersection of Mountain and Long Hill roads. The new plan will determine the amount of land left for the gateway.

The bar was destroyed by fire in the mid-1980s. Because its corporate owner, Brick House Bar Inc., stopped paying property taxes, the county auctioned it at a tax sale in 1990 to Robert H. Glemsky, a Nabbs Creek Road resident.

But Mr. Glemsky, faced with demolition costs as well as federal and state liens totaling more than $500,000, surrendered his claim, allowing the county to take title.

The County Council has declared the property surplus and is drafting legislation to transfer it to the Arundel Community Development Services (ACDS), the private contractor in charge of disposing of the land, said Kathy Koch, executive director of ACDS.

Ms. Koch said the terms of the transfer ordinance require improvements to the intersection and that the development group work with the Pasadena Business Association to build the gateway.

The business association is planning to lease the property from the ACDS if the ordinance is passed.

Meanwhile, Mr. Redmond is getting help with the project.

Paul Gable of Gable Signs and Graphics has volunteered to design the gateway.

"We'll have a three-person design staff doing initial drawings and, after the final design is selected, we'll build a scale model of the wall," Mr. Gable said.

The business association is to pay some of the cost of raw materials and organize fund-raisers and take donations for the balance of the cost.

Mr. Redmond organized the demolition of the Brick House Bar and saved 80,000 bricks from the structure.

He said that he will reuse the bricks in the gateway, and may sell any extra bricks to raise money for other materials.

"Some people said they want to buy some as mementos," said Mr. Redmond.

The association also is asking Pasadena business owners to volunteer to help build the gateway.